Dhinakaran returns to Chennai, claims he is always involved in party affairs

Chennai, June 3 -- The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) faction leader T.T. V. Dhinakaran's claim on Saturday that he will continue to deliver the party activities has once again brought the confusion in the ruling party to the forefront.
Dhinakaran who was allegedly involved in the Election Commission bribery case and returned to Chennai on Saturday after spending more than a month at Tihar jail, was given a rousing welcome by his supporters.
He claimed that he will prove his innocence in EC bribery case and will decide on the next course of action only after meeting the party general secretary V.K. Sasikala who is in Bengaluru prison facing charges for a disproportionate assets case.
"Only the party chief has the powers to remove me. I will continue the work for my party after returning to Chennai," said TTV Dinakaran as he left Delhi on Saturday.
A Delhi court granted bail to Dhinakaran and his aide Mallikarjuna stating that they were no longer required for custodial interrogation, on Thursday.
Supporting Dhinakaran's claims, environment minister Dindigul C Sreenivasan said, "What he (Dhinakaran) has said is 100% correct. He has not been removed from the party and only the party general secretary has the authority to do so. Dhinakaran himself declared about distancing from the party.
Few MPs and MLAs met Dhinakaran in New Delhi on Friday night.
On 18 April, in a turn of events and with a possibility of merger between the two warring factions of the AIADMK, senior ministers announced that they had decided to expel party general secretary V.K. Sasikala and her nephew Dhinakaran.
Following which Dhinakaran announced that he would step down.
"They (ministers) have sidelined me and I have kept myself away from the party affairs. If they had informed me about this, I would told about my decision much earlier," Dhinakaran had then said.
Meanwhile, on Saturday municipal administration minister S P Velumani said that was chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami who can decide on whether Dhinakaran can continue party work.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from MINT.